Shepherd Tantra

Chapter 1287 Love Among a Thousand Scars

The attack launched by Yuan Tiansi against the Crimson Calamity was exceptionally effective.

The Crimson Calamity had no idea that a Pillar God-level enemy would sneak up on it from the cracks of the world—

The white dragon and the red dragon had been fighting and biting each other for so long that they only seemed to have some superficial wounds. They were just minor injuries like peeling skin and bleeding. But the moment they were struck by Yuan Tiansi's tentacles, a crimson fountain of blood gushed out!
Each tentacle was like a monstrous serpent ready to devour its prey, its scales as sharp as blades. The dragon scales' defense was completely ineffective against this level of piercing damage—and the tentacles in their activated state had a priority comparable to those of a pillar god, easily breaking through the war aura used by the Crimson Calamity's protective shield.

At this moment, Yuan Tiansi, who had fully utilized the remaining power of the forbidden pillar god, was now completely equal in rank to the Crimson Calamity.

Beyond the priority afforded by their positions as pillar gods, the difference in their true strength is as vast as heaven and earth.

Even the Silver Crowned Dragon at its peak might not be able to defeat the completely enraged Yuan Tiansi.

This is a truly awakened, decadent empire!

Even the once mighty Silver Crowned Dragon had to be extremely cautious when facing the greatly weakened Xiong Tiansi, requiring Aiwas to use his physical body as bait and the assistance of two other pillar gods to completely annihilate him through a ritual. As a remnant of another fallen pillar god, Yuan Tiansi possesses far greater power than Xiong Tiansi.

The current Crimson Calamity is clearly less powerful than the Silver Crowned Dragon. Therefore, it is even more difficult for it to contend with the Heavenly Lord.

It is also ironic.

The Seventh Source River, Violence, represents the symbol of all power in the world—the fundamental source of difference arising from an absolutely fair order: when a world that was originally balanced develops a distinction between strong and weak, a new order is born based on "violence." In a sense, the Seventh Source River is a "weapon" used to attack the order, born after the Serpent Father "refuted" the path of the Sand Clock.

However, each generation of pillar gods from the "violent" source river is weaker than the last. Each generation lacks "violence" more than the last.

From the path of food to the path of power, from the path of power to the path of authority, from the path of authority to the path of war… the primitive concept of the survival of the fittest has gradually been diluted, and the Seventh Source River has gradually been influenced and assimilated by civilization and order. Just as social relations in the material world have developed from primitive tribes to modern civilization.

It still possesses the ability to destabilize the existing order, but it can no longer rebuild it. Yuan Tiansi's ruthless, beast-like attack severely wounded the Crimson Calamity almost instantly.

The earth-shattering wail of the red dragon in the dream world penetrated directly into the material world—not only in the Holy Spring City or the ancient Parthian Kingdom, but also reached neighboring Horus, as well as the distant Primordial and New Horus!

The Crimson Calamity cried out in despair, trying to escape, but more tentacles chased after it, surrounding it from all sides and almost completely engulfing the enormous, mountain-like red dragon into a sphere.

Aiwas, who was observing from the shadows, knew that... it couldn't really be said that the Crimson Calamity was too weak; rather, it was more a matter of restraint between powers.

This can be explained within the knowledge of higher divine arts.

The Silver-Crowned Dragon wields authority and storms; He is also a god of stillness, a god of rage, and a god of order. He can wield the power of frost because "power" tends to solidify itself; and he is adept at using storms and lightning because "power" also tends to punish and intimidate others. A monarch's manipulation of celestial phenomena is a representation of such authority.

The power of the Crimson Calamity counters the Silver Crown Dragon to some extent.

The power of war symbolizes change, and a more primal form of "violence." It is a kind of regression, overthrowing the power solidified by authoritarianism once again, and returning the world to a chaotic state where victory or defeat is determined by "strength."

However, it was still not the absolute, unquestionable law of the jungle and the strong preying on the weak that existed in the era of the Supreme Heaven. Instead, it was a constantly changing, chaotic form of "weaker" violence.

In other words, although its power is derived from authoritarianism, it is most restrained by the conservative and static authoritarian way.

It is closer to the path of transcendence than the path of authoritarianism. This is proof of His past as an apostle of the Celestial Guardians, and a remnant of His past influence. Yet, similarly... the Celestial Guardians also restrain the Crimson of Calamity.

Since it is war, bloodshed is inevitable. The power of war is necessarily related to blood—therefore, the fall of the Blood God also signifies the unlocking of this concept, and the power of the Crimson Calamity increases accordingly. And since He possesses blood, He will inevitably bleed from injury, just like the Supreme Heaven of the past.

However, blood is also a liquid, and for Yuan Tiansi, who is the god of the sea, it can still be manipulated.

The massive amount of dragon blood that shot out like a fountain or a dam when the tentacles pierced through was the power that the concept invaded by Yuan Tiansi had plundered!
Just as the Moon's Chosen of old feared the power of the Path of Twilight, the pure and vibrant concept of "blood," whether petrified, plunged into the sea, solidified, or sacrificed, signifies a fall into nothingness. And the Crimson Calamity, which strengthens itself through the concept of blood, is almost entirely powerless against the tentacle onslaught of the Abyss Heaven Division!
Even disregarding this restraint relationship, in terms of pure power, the Crimson Calamity is still weaker than the Heavenly Priest of Abyss—this is the Heavenly Priest of Amber, the strongest Pillar God. As Pillar God candidates, they are only slightly weaker than their own Pillar Gods, but that doesn't mean they are necessarily weaker than Pillar Gods of other paths.

In this war of gods, as long as a god takes on his mythical form, his size may not necessarily be a direct indicator of his strength, but it is closely related to the degree of resonance with the source river... just like Amber's giant eye that covers the sky, or the silver-crowned dragon that can cover mountains.

Just as in religious paintings, artists adjust the size according to the intensity and sacredness of the subject, the dragon-slaying hero would appear almost as large as the dragon, making the dragon look like a dog.

Yuan Tiansi's physique was more than two sizes larger than that of the Crimson Calamity.

From the perspective of the Crimson Calamity, all of this is utterly inexplicable—

The former pillar god, whom he had killed with his own hands, suddenly and inexplicably reappeared, possessing power not much less than his own, and looking menacingly ready to seize his territory.

Arthur then realized that Vortigern was definitely not satisfied—so he transformed into the form of a red dragon and once again engaged in the most primal hand-to-hand combat with his opponent.

It's not that they lack other means; however, this is a war between "themselves." Whoever uses forces other than "themselves" first is at a disadvantage.

But then, inexplicably, he saw Vortigern breathe dragon breath into the void and then charge towards him. He was naturally prepared to defend against the impact, but the white dragon suddenly vanished, followed by hundreds of tentacle spears that pierced him completely.

It's like fighting in a boxing ring, and suddenly your opponent jumps off, and thirty bald, burly men with Gatling guns appear and start shooting at you.

If they weren't divine beings constructed from spirits... if this attack had been delivered to a red dragon of the material world, it would have instantly pierced through all its internal organs and killed it. It was only because their conceptual shells contained only the power of the source river that they were able to survive this inexplicable attack.

Each strike drained a significant amount of power from him, and the Crimson Calamity was relentlessly drained of its life force. Even when he was stunned and tried to escape, the tentacles relentlessly pursued him.

The Crimson Calamity then realized that this was not the new power Voodoo had gained, but rather the entry of a third party.

He immediately became angry.

"I am the lover of countless scars, the lord of all swords and generals! What are you, daring to be my enemy!"

In an instant, countless swords, spears, and halberds flashed in the air, simultaneously erupting with the roar of cannons echoing from the void—

Countless afterimages of heroes appeared, instantly severing thousands of tentacles.

Among them, one can even see Yi Tiansi in his mortal form, or "Arthur" himself in his white dragon form.

Countless fiery red flames, mixed with a small amount of incandescent white beams, descended instantly, completely scorching the remaining tentacles!
(End of this chapter)